South African Archbishop,
Desmond
Tutu,
Nominates
Marwan Barghouti for Nobel
Peace Prize
Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and 1984 Nobel Peace
winner, on Monday nominated Marwan Barghouti for the Nobel
Peace Prize. This is the sixth nomination for the imprisoned
Palestinian parliamentary member.
Ma’an reported that Tutu wrote in a letter shared by the
Palestinian Liberation Organization on Tuesday, “The
nomination of Marwan Barghouti, a symbol of the Palestinian
people’s struggle for freedom, constitutes a clear signal of
support for the realization of the Palestinian people’s
inalienable rights, including to self-determination”.
Tutu added, “I call on the members of the Norwegian Nobel
Committee to seize this occasion to bring attention back to
the question of Palestine and to the calls for a just and
lasting peace”.
https://twitter.com/MaanNewsAgency/status/740237283811577856
Tutu, noted for his anti-apartheid activism has constantly
denounced the Israeli occupation. In 1988, he spoke of
Israel’s “many parallels with racism”. Tutu has been an ardent
supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
movement.
In
his
letter,
Tutu
called
the
detention
of
elected
Palestinian representatives such as Barghouti “a blatant
attack against the Palestinian nation, democracy and rights”.
Tutu’s nomination of Barghouti was clear: “I hope the Nobel
Committee will take a bold decision bringing us closer to the
day this holy land, charged with unique symbolic value, can
stop being a living testimony of injustice and impunity,
occupation and apartheid, and can finally be a beacon of
freedom, hope and peace.”
In addition to Tutu, Barghouti has this year been nominated by
the Arab Parliament, Palestinian National Council speaker
Saleem al-Zaanoun, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez
Esquivel, leading members of Belgium’s parliament, and Arab
Inter-Parliamentary Union President Nabih Berri.
Barghouti, a leading politician in the Fatah party, entered
the 15th year of his prison sentence this year. He remains one
of the most popular politicians in Palestine, receiving a wide
range of support among various political factions.
(PC, MA’AN)